Research

Longevity v. Heredity

The purpose of the experiment was to statistically show a strong positive correlation between longevity of life and heredity. Drosophila cultures were to be selectively bred to see if mating the longest living male and female flies would produce offspring with longer life spans. However, due to complications the flies were never able to be successfully bred. Unfortunately Horger and Kook's hypothesis was never proven or disproved.

Horger and Kook obtained their only data from the surveys they passed out to students at the Macomb Mathematics Science Technology Center and Stevenson High School. After analyzing the data collected, the final results showed a weak positive correlation between life span and heredity in human beings.